It should be simple. You walk up to the counter, the nice person gives you a fresh new car and you drive carefree for a few days on your vacation. But it's never that easy.

The worst I've ever suffered was sitting on the side of a blistering highway en route to Atlantic City while my family's hire car overheated. We'd gotten it from "Rent-A-Wreck," which certainly lived up to its name.

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